Isabella trembled, her eyes red. "Serena, please don't kick me out! As long as you forgive me, I'll do anything. I'll even be your maid..."
"Either get back to your ward or go back to the villa and lock yourself in," Serena interrupted coldly, her impatience showing.
Isabella gripped her fingers. "S-Serena... you mean, I can stay?"
Did that mean she didn't have to be locked up anymore?
Serena didn't finish, just looked at her coldly.
Douglas Vinton scoffed, his wicked features full of mockery. "My niece means, if you don't get out of here right now, you'll definitely regret it."
His smile made Isabella shrink back.
She quickly stood up. "I-I'll go back to my ward right now..."
She stumbled out of the room. Blood all over her face and hands, staining her hospital gown. She looked pathetic, but no one helped her.
At the door, she collided with a tall, blonde, blue-eyed man in a suit rushing in.
Isabella fell hard, groaning in pain as tears welled up.
"Miss Isabella!" The man, Lucas Bennett, quickly helped her up. "Sorry, Miss Isabella, I have urgent business with Mr. Vinton. I didn't mean to..."
Isabella was dizzy.
Lucas was truly in a rush. He sat her aside and hurried in.
"Mr. Vinton, we have a problem!" Lucas's face was grim. "News of Holden's critical condition somehow leaked. The outside world is saying he won't make it..."
He glanced at Holden Vinton
carefully, then continued. "Because of this, The Vinton Group's stock crashed Wall Street shorts are taking advantage of this, launching a massive short attack in just a few hours, tens of billions in market
value evaporated. The funding
chain... it's broken!"
"What?!" Holden's voice pitched up, his face changing drastically. He grabbed his chest and coughed.
"Dad, don't worry!" Silas's face paled
as he stood up. He forced himself to
reassure his father. "It's just a
small
storm. I can handle it. Just focus on
resting."
He grabbed his phone and strode out. "There's no time. Requisition the sanatorium's conference room Call an urgent international meeting immediately I want a response plan in ten minutes."
Lucas agreed and made the calls.
Holden held his chest, breathing heavily as he watched them leave. Kiera Montrose
tried to comfort him, but words couldn't ease this level of crisis.
The atmosphere was suffocating.
"Holden," Serena walked over, her expression as calm as ever.